Human and rodent genomes: Discrepant patterns of DNA sequence similarity

Abstract

Two distinct patterns of noncoding DNA sequence divergence have been identified in the genomes of humans and rodents. In the β‐globin and γ‐crystallin gene clusters there is little evidence of sequence similarity outside of the coding and immediate 5’ flanking regulatory regions while in the T‐cell receptor Cα/Cδ and α‐ and β‐myosin gene regions there is extensive sequence similarity through the introns and extended flanking DNA sequences. This poses the fascinating possibility that large regions of noncoding sequences evolve at different rates.